Pot Stocks, ETFs, Top News And Data From The Cannabis Industry This Week

The first recreational cannabis sales were made in Massachusetts this week, although only two stores — New England Treatment Access, or NETA, in Northampton and Cultivate Holdings in Leicester — were allowed to service customers.

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“Tuesday was another major milestone for the cannabis industry and we're extremely proud to have been a part of it,” said Scott Hinerfeld, VP of Business Development at LeafLogix. The company's seed-to-sale cannabis ERP powered the state’s first recreational transaction, which took place at NETA.

“It’s the kind of day when technology matters most. Everything has to go right. The world is literally watching and the story should never be overshadowed by news of technical difficulties or system outages," Hinerfeld said.

In the capital markets, cannabis companies are still raising millions. Yet "it seems the bloom has come off the rose,” Green Market Report CEO Debra Borchardt told Benzinga. “Evidence of this played out this week with MedMen's stock. The company had to revise the terms of a previously announced deal after the share price fell. Instead of raising $120 million, it cut the deal to $75 million and lowered the price per unit.”

Neither this news nor Thanksgiving slowed down the capital markets much. TILT Holdings announced that it closed a raise of $119 million and will go public in Canada within weeks. “There is still lots of money that wants to go into the cannabis industry, but investors are making their voices heard when it comes to price,” Borchardt said.

Marijuana Indexes & ETFs

In a shortened week, the United States Marijuana Index, which tracks most of the largest marijuana stocks in the U.S., lost 2.6 percent, while the North American Marijuana Index, which also includes Canadian stocks, slipped 1.5 percent.

Over the last five trading days, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (OTC: HMLSF) lost 3.7 percent, while the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE: MJ) shed 1.9 percent of its value. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) closed the week down 3.8 percent.

Stock Moves

Marijuana stocks with a market cap above $100 million trading on U.S. exchanges performed as follows over the last five trading days:

• 22nd Century Group Inc (NYSE: XXII): up 4.8 percent

• Aphria Inc (NYSE: APHA): down 9.45 percent

• Aurora Cannabis Inc (NYSE: ACB): down 5.8 percent

• CannTrust Holdings Inc (OTC: CNTTF): up 1.4 percent

• Canopy Growth Corp (NYSE: CGC): down 4.9 percent

• Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON): up 1.4 percent

• Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd (OTC: TGODF): down 1.6 percent

• Green Thumb Industries Inc (OTC: GTBIF): down 9.8 percent

• GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH): down 6.2 percent

• Hexo Corp (OTC: HYYDF): down 6.6 percent

• iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc (OTC: ITHUF): down 5.3 percent

• Medical Marijuana Inc (OTC: MJNA): down 7 percent

• MedMen Enterprises Inc. (OTC: MMNFF): down 13.8 percent

• Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE: SMG): down 5.55 percent

• THC Biomed Intl Ltd (OTC: THCBF): down 6.5 percent

• Tilray Inc (NASDAQ: TLRY): up 5 percent

• Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ZYNE): down 2.3 percent

In Other News

The cannabis networking organization Industry Power Women announced the winners of this year’s Industry Power Women Awards. The victors were:

Seed-to-sale platform, BioTrackTHC, a Helix TCS Inc. (OTC: HLIX) subsidiary, became the first software system to meet the requirements of the California Cannabis Authority, or CCA. CCA gathers, collects, and analyzes information to help growers, manufacturers, distributors, and dispensaries ensure cannabis regulatory compliance across six member counties — Humboldt, Mendocino, Yolo, San Luis Obispo, Inyo and Monterey.

The CCA requires cannabis businesses within these counties to utilize an approved software solution that integrates with its platform. BioTrackTHC is the first and currently only software system that has earned this approval.

“We look forward to working with the CCA to bring compliance solutions to California, arguably the largest cannabis economy in the world,” said BioTrack THC President and CEO Patrick Vo. “The counties using our tools for oversight, enforcement, compliance and regulatory optimization comprise the majority of California’s infamous Emerald Triangle, a world-renowned cannabis production region made famous for its high-quality cannabis.”

Enterprise retail management software system Treez announced the next generation of its platform, Treez 2.0. Treez said its updates will allow the company to enter the seed-to-sale space while gaining momentum as a true enterprise resource planning platform. Customers can expect to find decentralized point-of-sale capabilities, automated compliance, integrated payment processing and increased stability with Treez 2.0.

The platform is intended to allow retailers, manufacturers and cultivators to track their respective business objectives, data and performance metrics in real-time and manage their enterprise from a single system.

“Treez 2.0 is the maturation of our seed-to-sale journey — it will allow retailers to communicate with growers and producers in-platform and truly streamline the needs of the modern cannabis operator,” said CEO John Yang.

Vancouver-based Chemesis International Inc. (OTC: CADMF) announced the acquisition of the Colombian cannabis company La Finca Interacviva-Arachna Med SAS.

“The company’s cultivation program is based on a decentralized model with partner farmers throughout the country, allowing small farmers to quickly generate high-quality crops. Currently, La Finca has relationships with over 2,000 farming families across Colombia through various co-ops that comprise its land package," according to the company.

Chemesis will pay C$13.5 million ($10.2 million) for La Finca in a combination of cash and stock.

Harborside, one of the oldest legal cannabis dispensaries in the country, was founded in 2006 by activist Steve DeAngelo. It closed a $25-million Series B funding round geared to fuel the company’s continued expansion throughout California. As it shifts from nonprofit to profit, Harborside is seeking to pursue franchising and licensing agreements in the state.

CEO Andrew Berman told Benzinga: “California is the largest cannabis market in the world and has been showing continued rapid growth. As such, it presents tremendous opportunities for Harborside, which is already well-established in the state, while presenting challenges for others trying to enter. With our unique expertise in California at each step of the value chain, we are focused on capturing market share in this rapidly evolving market.”

Find out more about these news items and others on MedMen’s stock halt; Trulieve and EVIO Inc (OTC: EVIO)’s earnings; and Aurora Cannabis’ acquisition of ICC Labs Inc (OTC: ICCLF) with our friends at Marijuana Money, who make a weekly video summary of the top financial and business news in the cannabis industry.

Colorado recreational sales surged by 8 percent year-over-year to $92 million. “Additionally, the state recently released its cardholder registry for August — an ongoing lag in reporting card counts continues — with a further deterioration in cardholder count (down 2 percent from July to 86,000), with average patient spend per month steady at $300,” Karnes said. “The Colorado marijuana market has reached maturity, and we expect total sales this year to be flat to down year-over-year at $1.5 billion, with continued disruption to the medical market.”

Gofire, a Denver-based digital health care company, recently released a data-driven health tracking app and scannable DoseCode technology as part of its comprehensive health suite for medical cannabis.

After downloading the Gofire app, patients can use their smartphones to scan the DoseCode, a branded QR code that's found on products manufactured by Colorado’s No. 1 edibles producer, Wana Brands, along with transdermal NanoSerum topicals from Evolve Formulas.

Scan a DoseCode and the Gofire app will automatically pull up the chemical profile of the cannabis product with test results validated by a third-party testing lab. Patients can also use the app to find products, anonymously contribute and access reviews within the community, track personal dosages and document outcomes of individual products and doses.

“Since California’s legalization in 1996, patients have been actively seeking alternative plant-based products that might provide them with relief,” said Gofire CEO Peter Calfee. “We know the Gofire ecosystem has the power to become the Google of alternative medicine because it provides unbiased reviews on which products will work best for you based purely on community feedback all in the palm of your hand. And because we rely on reviews for everything as we head into 2019, using our community to make the most informed decisions possible, it only makes sense that we would also tap our community to help us find the products that will improve our individual health and wellness.”

Events Calendar

Nov. 26: Dustin Brandon is bringing together more than 35 farms for an Oregon industry event celebrating "Croptober" in a space that allows cannabis consumption. Oregon's top farms will have the opportunity to network and meet with representatives from more than 180 Portland-registered dispensaries and some of the state's best oil processors.

Nov. 29: Leafwire's Future of Cannabis Pitch Contest is back in Los Angeles as part of a four-city tour. The event will feature six companies completing a 3-minute pitch followed by a 3-minute Q&A from the judges to win cash and prizes. The startups will also be competing to win a Golden Ticket to appear on Entrepreneur’s fourth season of the Elevator Pitch Webcast. Powerhouse judges include Cynthia Salarizadeh, CEO and founder of AxisWire; Matthew Nordgren, managing director of the Arcadian Fund; and Andre Bourque, contributing cannabis and blockchain writer at Forbes. A keynote will be given by David Meltzer, the CEO and co-founder of Sports 1 Marketing and the inspiration for the film "Jerry Maguire." For more info, head to: https://www.lajointventures.com/

Dec. 6-7: Black Dog Venture Partners will present the Venture Capital Fast Pitch at the San Diego City Summit. Twelve companies will be able to pitch investors; the winning pitch receives a VIP sponsorship at the City Gala during Oscar week with a value of $10,000. VC Fast Pitch's Scott Kelly said: “We are thrilled to bring our 20th pitch event to the entrepreneur community in San Diego. We are looking forward to connecting promising southern California companies with our investor network.”

Dec. 7: The cannabis-focused event production company Mannada will present its first annual Cannabis Media Summit in New York City's Times Square. The daylong event will feature panel discussions on such topics as “Starting a Cannabis Media Company,” “Ethics in Cannabis Reporting” and “Using Media for Effective Communication” as well as discussion on cannabis-specific issues in financial pitching and reporting, podcasting, social media messaging and more. “I was approached by several journalists who identified a need for programming to address cannabis media coverage,” said Mannada founder Kristin Jordan. “As a professional event production company serving the cannabis industry, we understand how media perception is so important to legalization and regulatory efforts.”

Dec. 10-12: Five years after the approval of the first comprehensive cannabis regulation law in the world, Monitor Cannabis Uruguay and the School of Social Science of Universidad de la República are convening an academic discussion on the various aspects that arise from the rollout and results of a law of this kind. The analysis of the Uruguayan case and the experience of other countries will allow us to draw lessons and learnings for the ongoing reform processes and their impact on peoples’ welfare. With this congress, Monitor Cannabis Uruguay intends to improve the flow of evidence-based information on cannabis regulation policy, as well as to disseminate and facilitate scientific research linked to cannabis in Uruguay, the region and the world. The congress will be held at the School of Social Science of Universidad de la República in Montevideo.